BROCKTON – Just after midnight April 30, Florence Beaulieu called 911 to report a “voodoo” candle sitting at her front doorstep.

That same day she went to Brockton District Court to file a restraining order against her estranged husband Jean-Michel Beaulieu.

Florence Beaulieu, 37, was found dead in her Forest Avenue apartment by two of her four children May 16.

Police said she was beaten to death by Jean-Michel, who was arraigned for her murder Wednesday in Brockton District Court. He pleaded not guilty.

The candle on her doorstep was one of several incidences that she believed were voodoo scare tactics by Jean-Michel, her friend Manouchka Casimir said Thursday. They began after Florence had kicked Jean-Michel out of their home and started pushing for divorce.

Haitian voodoo or vodou is a religion that originated in Haiti in the 18th century when slaves were brought to the French colony from Africa.

“She said it was him trying to scare her,” Casimir said.

On April 25, according to court records, Florence Beaulieu called police around 10:30 p.m. and said she had just come home to find white powder on her door and stairs and that she was afraid to go inside. Police believed the powder to be flour.

After her death, upstairs neighbor Alan Crate told police that Florence said to him someone had been going in and out of her house when she wasn’t home.

She told him that she came home once to her locked apartment and found a crucifix and white powder all over the inside of her house. She told Crate that she was scared because she needed help from her abusive husband, court records show.

Casimir said there was another instance around that time period where she again found a candle on her doorstep

“Doing something like that to someone would mean they’re either trying to do something malicious to them or just trying to scare them and it might not mean anything,” Casimir said. “In our culture (Haitian culture) the candles are used to summon whatever evil spirit you want to summon. The powder is like a spiritual poison. If you step in it, if you walk over it, if you touch it, it’s supposed to hurt you or someone in your family or kill you.”

Leslie Desmangles is a professor of religion and international studies at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., who studies voodoo or, as he calls it, vodou.

“If you believe it obviously it’s going to have a tremendous psychological impact,” Desmangles said of the powder and candles. “When she saw this she knew something was wrong. Religious beliefs are very powerful. The powder has power in it.”

Page 2 of 2 - Neite Decimus is a voodoo priest and anthropologist in Brockton. He said he does not believe that voodoo was used against Florence Beaulieu but agreed that the incidences were likely used as scare tactics.

“You will not see a person do voodoo on you and then use harm on that person,” Decimus said.

Decimus explained that people who practice voodoo do not physically harm people but may try to focus bad energy toward a person.

Desmangles agreed, saying, “Voodoo does not teach you to do harm to anybody. It has a code of ethics. It’s not a religion that’s actually harmful.”

He also said witchcraft is a part of the religion but not the central aspect.

“The religion itself is not a religion of witch craft. Some people are practicing it in that way,” he said.

“In voodoo, if you slap me, I will not slap you if I want to do vengeance,” Decimus said.

He said he instead would focus his energy on something negative happening to the person in order to take revenge, like the person getting sick or losing their job.

“In voodoo, when something happens to you there is no way human eyes can see,” said Decimus.

According to court records, many people knew Jean-Michel Beaulieu as “Pastor” or “Pastor Beaulieu.” It is not clear if he was a pastor. He worked in Boston for a taxi company called Uber.

Casimir, who is a youth leader at the Brockton Haitian Church, said Florence and Jean-Michel attended the Protestant Church with their children. Since Florence’s death, Casimir said, she has been hearing rumors that Jean-Michel practices voodoo.

Desmangles said it is not uncommon for people who practice voodoo to also follow a Catholic or Christian religion. He said many Catholic saints and voodoo spirits are very similar.

“It seems like all Haitians believe in voodoo, but you will probably see 1 percent identify themselves as voodoo,” Decimus said. “They’re Protestant for society, they’re Catholic for society but all Haitians know it. Because it’s kind of a backbone.”

“Even if someone doesn’t believe it we know about it. We grew up with it,” Casimir said.